Last night Jeremy and I completed our fifth and final Birth and Baby class through the hospital. The first four focused on information about labor and delivery, with a fun tour of the hospital in week four. Last night was all about baby care, complete with little plastic baby dolls and tons of info packets to take home. I took a backseat in all the practical stuff since the instructor told us to allow the person with less baby experience to get all hands on, and Jeremy rocked it. Luckily, he's had lots of experience with friends' babies and with our niece, so I wasn't worried, but it warmed my heart to see him getting so involved.
I had some scared feelings since the instructor went over this huge, long list of reasons to call the doctor, all of which I know will have me agonizing someday. They also showed us a video on "Purple crying, a previously unknown (to me) phenomenon in which babies cry inconsolably for hours (not colic) that tends to pop up between 1 1/2 to 5 months. The main emphasis in the movie was that it can be so frustrating that it can drive caregivers to shake babies, so it's ok to walk away. All I can say to this is, yikes. I'm prepared for crying, but always assume that eventually I'll figure out (and address) the issue. How does one learn to distinguish between "purple" crying and an issue you need to address that you haven't thought of yet? I know I'll learn, but add it to the list of Reasons Brie is Anxious.
But despite all this, I'm feeling good. The end of birth class gets us one step closer to actually doing this thing, by which I mean, getting this baby out of my belly. So crazy that we're less than five weeks away!!
So that's what the hospital nurse tried to get me to watch while Adam was getting the car to take Rhys home!!! I declined. You are going to be an expert baby whisperer-- calm, adaptable and persistent. You will not have any purple crying. Promise :).
ReplyDeleteI totally forgot about "purple crying"! I now remember that was mentioned, but have never heard of someone actually experiencing it. Try not to worry about the long list of reasons to call the doctor. Just know the main ones, and as long as you have a healthy baby you will probably forgot anyway and end up Googling things on your smartphone as they come up. Pretty sure I Googled "vomiting like a sprinkler" in Larkin's early months.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard that phrase before. I think it happened once. I was exhausted and by myself (I think Katie was on a business trip to Philly or Atlanta). At one point, I was actually so tired of holding Lark that I put her down in the crib and said, "I'll get you in five minutes," (she was < six months old). I woke up like five hours later. She was asleep. Not sure what the lesson is there other than...eventually they stop.
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